The present invention relates to a method of providing telephonic services, and in particular, to providing access by a customer to long-distance carriers and information providers and to prompted dialing services. The term xe2x80x9cservice providerxe2x80x9d will henceforth be used to refer to both long-distance service providers and information providers.
There presently exist several methods of accessing a long-distance carrier. One method is the pre-subscription method. In this method, every telephone line has a pre-subscribed long-distance carrier. To use the pre-subscribed carrier, the customer dials 1+the area (or service) code plus seven more digits. This is known as xe2x80x9c1+xe2x80x9d dialing.
A second method is the use of a CIC (carrier identification code) code. In this method, every carrier has a unique 4-digit CIC code. To reach a desired carrier by means of a CIC code, the customer dials xe2x80x9c101xe2x80x9d+the CIC code. This enables the customer to use that carrier for a call by dialing 101+CIC code +1+area code, etc.
Another method of accessing a long-distance carrier is the use of a calling card. The customer dials a toll-free number belonging to the desired carrier and charges a call to a calling card or a credit card.
A further method of accessing a long-distance carrier is the use of a collect call. The customer dials a toll-free number belonging to the desired carrier and places a collect call using that carrier.
Similarly, several methods exist of accessing an information provider, including dialing a xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d (or intra-area code equivalent) service code number, dialing an xe2x80x9c800xe2x80x9d service code number, and dialing a POTS number, including both local and long-distance numbers.
The object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of accessing service providers for providing telephonic services.
This and other objects of the present invention are achieved in accordance with the present invention wherein a customer calls a toll-free number, hangs up, and is called back by the selected service provider, which then gives the customer a dial tone or other indication that input is expected from the customer. Although a dial-tone is the most common form of an indication to the customer that input is expected, there are other such indications, such as a single tone, and verbal prompts. The term xe2x80x9cdialing promptxe2x80x9d will henceforth be used to refer to all forms of indications that input is expected from the customer, including, conventional dial-tone, conventional single tones, conventional verbal prompts, and the improved method of verbal prompts described below.
Typically, the use of a dial-tone means that the customer is to input a destination telephone number, and the use of a single tone means that the customer is to input some other type of information, such as a billing number. The use of verbal prompts has been used to verbally tell the customer which type of information to enter. Under the method of the present invention, a new use of verbal prompts is possible, namely, using prompts to advise the caller from time to time during entry of a dialing sequence exactly where the customer is in that sequence, or what entry a customer must make to complete a call to a desired location or service, or to indicate to the customer that there may have been an entry error. The method of the present invention is known as xe2x80x9cCall-Back Dial-Tonexe2x80x9d, and the method of providing prompted dialing is known as xe2x80x9cPrompted Dialingxe2x80x9d.
In accordance with the object of the present invention, the present invention also includes a method for providing telephonic services wherein an access telephone number is provided corresponding to a provider of telephonic services, signaling made to the access number by the customer is received by the provider, a desired dialing sequence to be inputted by the customer is determined, and a prompt of at least one but fewer than all of the digits of the desired dialing sequence is provided to the customer. Prompting is repeated until the dialing sequence is completed by the customer. The desired dialing sequence can be a telephone number, a geographic area code telephone number or a service code telephone number, such as a xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d number, or a dialing code selected from a menu. The prompting can be one which allows a touch-tone input, a dialing input or a verbal input. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the prompted dialing can be used in conjunction with call-back, wherein the customer is called back before the desired dialing sequence is determined. Alternatively, the customer is called back after determining the desired dialing sequence.
In a typical embodiment of the present invention, a person connects to a telephonic menu or information service from which the caller is given a number to call to reach the desired service. For example, the number can be 1+900+XXX-XXXX, although it could be a regular area code or local number. Since many people cannot remember ten digits, the caller can acknowledge that prompting is desired by an appropriate input from the telephone instrument, by giving a verbal response, or by merely continuing with the process, so that the system can help the person dial by repeating a few digits at a time as the person inputs the number. On a call-back, the person calls, gets a menu, selects the number he or she wants to reach, hangs up and gets called back, and there is a voice at the other end which says, for example, xe2x80x9cthis is the call-back you requested. You indicated that you wish to reach 900-123-4567. If you wish to reach that number, please dial 1-900 now. If you do not wish to reach that number, please dial or say 5 now.xe2x80x9d After the input, or after a time out, the prompt continues and says, for example, xe2x80x9cnow please dial 123.xe2x80x9d This is repeated until the entire dialing sequence is completed. This method allows for error correction, because if the caller does dial the 1-900 but hits 126, the system can detect that and respond accordingly.
From the dialing prompt, the customer can obtain basic telephonic services (e.g., long distance), enhanced services (e.g., speed dialing), or audio services (e.g., entertainment or information provided by information providers). The method of the present invention is the only method whereby a customer can obtain a general dial-tone (i.e., a dial-tone equivalent to the dial-tone provided by a local exchange carrier (LEC) from a long-distance carrier.
The present invention has many advantages for customers and service providers. It allows small long-distance carriers, for example, those that are not facilities-based and therefore not able to become pre-subscribed, or reachable by 101+(CIC code), or have traffic delivered by xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d operators, to compete nationally with large long-distance carriers for long-distance traffic.
The present invention also allows all service providers to compete nationally with large long-distance carriers for xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d traffic. Carriers without the facilities to carry their own xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d traffic must pay high rates to facilities-based carriers to carry xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d traffic.
The method according to the present invention also allows long-distance carriers to lower their costs with respect to their long-distance traffic. In the conventional xe2x80x9c1+xe2x80x9d call, the long-distance carrier pays both the originating and terminating local exchange carriers (LECs) for handling the call. In the present invention, the long-distance carrier can eliminate the payment to the originating LEC.
The present invention allows fraud control for calls to numbers to which the customer is able to block calling, such as xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d numbers. The reason is that the calling back identifies the calling phone as one to which direct calls can be made, thereby eliminating many of the telephones from which fraudulent long-distance and xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d calls are made, for example, PBX""s and pay phones. In addition, although the LECs make available databases of blocked numbers, the databases have errors, and a supposedly blocked call can get through. In such a case, the long-distance carrier and the information provider may incur losses.
The facilities-based carriers that carry the traffic for the small long-distance companies charge.the small long-distance carriers more for carrying an incoming call (for example, an xe2x80x9c800xe2x80x9d call) than for carrying an outgoing xe2x80x9c1+xe2x80x9d call. Therefore, overall, it is less expensive for the small long-distance carrier to pay for the initial, short xe2x80x9c800xe2x80x9d call in, the long xe2x80x9c1+xe2x80x9d call to the customer and the long xe2x80x9c1+xe2x80x9d call out to the recipient of the customer""s call, than to pay for a long xe2x80x9c800xe2x80x9d call in and a long xe2x80x9c1+xe2x80x9d call out to the recipient of the customer""s call, which would be the case if the customer made the call by the calling card or credit card method.
The method also allows a long-distance carrier to allocate the entire universe of telephone numbers as it sees fit. This is because once a customer is connected to a carrier, a carrier can carry a call however it wishes. Thus, a carrier can use some unused portion of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) phone spectrum (e.g., the 666 service code) to allow its customers to advertise easily remembered numbers. Thus, even though 1-800-FLOWERS is taken, with the present invention, a carrier could offer 1-666-FLOWERS and thousands of other memorable numbers.
The method according to the present invention also allows a long-distance carrier to offer all services that a LEC can offer. Examples of such services that could be offered include: speed dialing (e.g., the customer entering a digit or two to reach a specific 10-digit number); other abbreviated dialing patterns; specialized dialing patterns (e.g., the customer entering a specific code presents the customer with a specialized menu of options); scheduled calls (e.g., the customer is called back by the long-distance company at a scheduled time); vertical service (also known as CLASS service and as * and # feature) codes (e.g., the customer entering *66 for repeat dialing, or *67 for caller ID blocking); voice-activated dialing (e.g., the customer speaks the digits of the phone number, or the name of the party, desired to be called); Directory Assistance (with or without call completion); Operator assistance; prompted dialing (e.g., a number returned from Directory Assistance, an information service, or a menu selection is repeated to the customer in units of only a few digits as the customer enters them for calling); selection of billing methods; entertainment services (e.g., xe2x80x9cpsychic readingsxe2x80x9d), information services (e.g., sports scores, lottery results); 900 services; multi-party calling; conference calling; and telemessaging. Depending upon the nature of the service offering, it can be selected by the customer during the incoming call to the provider or during the return call to the customer. For example, the option to be called-back at a number other than the number from which the call was placed would have to be selected during the incoming call, but the option to bill the call to a credit card could be selected during either the incoming call or the call-back.
The present invention gives a customer more flexibility than may be offered by the customer""s LEC. For example, at present, a customer cannot easily block and unblock xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d calls with a LEC, but with the present invention, the customer could block xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d calls with a LEC and still make a xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d number call if the customer so chose. Thus, the house phone could be blocked for xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d calls by the children, but the parents could still make xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d calls.
The method of the present invention is distinguished from a method known as xe2x80x9cInternational Call-Backxe2x80x9d which is used extensively overseas. In the xe2x80x9cInternational Call-Backxe2x80x9d method, an overseas customer signs up for the service and is assigned a regular, non-800 telephone number in the United States. When the customer calls from overseas to the assigned United States telephone number, the telephone is not answered in order to avoid any charges for the call, but the equipment in the United States calls the customer back at a pre-arranged telephone number overseas and gives the customer a dial-tone. The foreign customer can then make a call to another place via the United States equipment. The reason for this method is that it is cheaper to call, for example, England from France, by using this method based upon United States rates, than by dialing England directly from France based upon French rates. The system is used overseas because of the economics.
With regard to International Call-Back, it is set up for each customer with a one-to-one correspondence between a particular overseas telephone number and a particular U.S. telephone number, and therefore, the customer has to use International Call-Back from that originating phone. The present invention, by contrast, because the long-distance company recognizes the calling telephone number through Automatic Number Identification (ANI), allows the customer to call from any billable phone that can be called back. Thus, the system of the present invention can be used without any prior arrangement, from any billable telephone, whereas International Call-Back cannot.
Because International Call-Back has a unique U.S. number assigned to each customer, the system""s access number cannot be advertised directly. The present invention, by contrast, allows the same call-in number to be used by all customers, thereby allowing advertising of the access number.
Similarly, different access numbers can be used to offer different sets of services, thereby making it possible to tailor advertising to the market for such services. Specialized access numbers also can be used to tailor the options for a particular caller, such as to offer a small number of call-back numbers from which the customer can select with a simple entry (rather than, for example, having to enter a full-length telephone number), or to offer a limited number of service options which similarly can be easily selected.
International Call-Back always calls back the pre-arranged number. In the present invention, by contrast, the initial call can be answered, a menu of options can be presented to the caller, such as being called back at a user-specified number rather than at the number calling in, or calling back at a later time rather than immediately. In this last case, the call-back could be made for purposes of allowing the customer to make an outgoing call, or to receive entertainment or information services, or could be made for other purposes, such as a wake-up call, or a reminder, or to activate some device appropriately connected to the telephone instrument. Thus, under the method of the present invention, there is no need (as there is under the method of International Call-Back) for the customer to remember which telephone number is registered for the service, or which number needs to be called from which telephone.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the method for providing telephone service comprises providing a toll-free access telephone number corresponding to the service provider and not corresponding to any customer or customer telephone number and which is thereby usable by any valid customer. The method also includes receiving signaling made to the toll-free number by a customer from a calling number, determining the calling number and terminating the signaling. The calling number is called back and the customer is provided with a dialing prompt whereby the customer can select a desired service. Services include conventional long-distance calling (e.g., 1+area code +7 digits (and foreign equivalents)), conventional service code calling (e.g., xe2x80x9c800xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d numbers), and the calling of numbers which reach information providers providing entertainment or information services (e.g., individual audio text services, multi-party audio text services, multi-party connection).
The dialing prompt provided to the customer can be either a dial-tone or a verbal prompt, and can preferably have any number of services automatically available, or, a menu of services can be provided to the customer for selection of the desired one or ones to be used. The services could include speed dialing, other abbreviated dialing patterns, specialized dialing patterns, vertical service codes, voice-activated dialing, Directory Assistance, Operator assistance, prompted dialing, selection of billing methods, entertainment services, information services, 900 services, multi-party calling, conference calling and telemessaging.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the method comprises providing a toll-free access telephone number corresponding to the service provider and not corresponding to any customer or customer telephone number and which is thereby usable by any valid customer. The method also includes receiving a call made to the toll-free number by a customer from a calling number, providing call-back options to the customer, receiving an indication of at least one call-back option from the customer and hanging up the call. The customer is then called back in accordance with the at least one call-back option.
In a still further embodiment, the customer is provided with a dialing prompt, whereby the customer can select a desired service. Services include conventional long-distance calling (e.g., 1+area code +7 digits (and foreign equivalents)), conventional service code calling (e.g., xe2x80x9c800xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c900xe2x80x9d numbers), and the calling of numbers which reach information providers providing entertainment or information services (e.g., individual audio text services, multi-party audio text services, multi-party connection). The dialing prompt provided to the customer can be either a dial-tone or a verbal prompt, and can preferably have any number of services automatically available, or, a menu of services can be provided to the customer for selection of the desired one or ones to be used. The services could include speed dialing, other abbreviated dialing patterns, specialized dialing patterns, vertical service codes, voice-activated dialing, Directory Assistance, Operator Assistance, prompted dialing, selection of billing methods, entertainment services, information services, 900 services, multi-party calling, conference calling and telemessaging.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention are achieved in accordance with the present invention described in more detail hereinafter with regard to the attached drawings, wherein,